GM Ryan Poles spent his entire scouting career with the Kansas City Chiefs before coming to the Chicago Bears. Several mentors taught him many lessons about constructing a football team during that time. It only makes sense that he’d apply what he learned to his approach this coming off-season. All eyes are on him. The Bears have over $120 million in projected salary cap space and may end up with a top five pick in the 2023 draft. So he’ll have a massive opportunity to upgrade his roster. What nobody knows is how he’ll approach it.
So I looked back at the Chiefs’ off-seasons during his time there to see if there were any parallels to garner. One stood out. That was 2010. Kansas City had secured what they felt was their QB of the future in Matt Cassel the year prior. They held the 5th overall pick in the upcoming draft and had enough cap space to do some spending. Their approach became clear right away. With defense appearing to dominate the top rankings on most draft boards, the Chiefs decided to do their spending on offense in free agency.
They added starting Ryan Lilja and starting center Casey Wiegmann. They also signed veteran running back Thomas Jones to beef up their ground attack. When the draft rolled around, the decision was easy. Kansas City selected safety Eric Berry 5th overall.
Ryan Poles likely will take a similar approach.
It ended up working for Kansas City. Their offense took a giant leap forward that season, finishing 12th in yards and 14th in points scored. Berry made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, his first of five. The Chiefs went 10-6 and made the playoffs. When examining the 2023 landscape, everything sets up the same way it did over a decade ago. Poles has a young quarterback he believes in with Justin Fields. Building around him is vital, but there’s one problem. The top of the upcoming draft isn’t heavy on star talent. Mel Kiper of ESPN said no position player (i.e., wide receiver or offensive lineman) is worthy of going in the top five. This year, it is a defensive crop led by pass rusher Will Anderson and dynamic defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
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Knowing this, the likely outcome will be the Bears spending primarily on the offensive side of the ball when free agency opens in March. Multiple offensive linemen will be available. Ryan Poles already traded for Chase Claypool to help upgrade the wide receiver room. It feels like he’s setting the stage for the exact approach Kansas City took back in 2010. It makes sense. Adding offensive veterans means they’ll be able to help Fields immediately. In turn, Matt Eberflus could secure a desperately needed young building block for his defense.
